The next year, the pofthumous works of Mr. Wycherley were printed, in a way difreputable enough to his memory. It was thought a justice due to him, to fhew the world his better judgment; and that it was his laft refolution to have fuppreffed those poems. fome of the Letters which had paffed between him and our author cleared that point, they were published in 1729, with a few marginal notes added by a friend.

If in these Letters, and in those which were printed without his confent, there appear too much of a juvenile ambition of wit, or affectation of gaiety, he may reasonably hope it will be confidered to whom, and at what age, he was guilty of it, as well as how foon it was over. The reft, every judge of writing will fee, were by no means efforts of the genius, but emanations of the heart and this alone may induce any candid reader to believe their publication an act of neceffity, rather than of vanity.

:

It is notorious how many volumes have been published under the title of his correfpondence, with promises still of more, and open and repeated offers of en-› couragement to all persons who should fend any letters of his for the prefs. It is as notorious what methods were taken to procure them, even from the publisher's own accounts in his Prefaces, viz. by tranfacting with people in neceffities*, or of abandoned + characters, or fuch as dealt without names in the dark. Upon a quarrel with one of these laft, he betrayed himself so far, as to appeal to the Publick in Narratives and Advertisements like that Irish highwayman a few years! before, who preferred a bill against his companion, for

See the Preface to vol. i. of a Book called Mr. Pope's Literary Correfpondence.

Poftfcript to the Preface to vol. iv.

Narrative and Anecdotes before vol. ii.

not fharing equally in the money, rings, and watches, they had traded for in partnership upon Hounslow-heath.

*

Several have been printed in his name which he never writ, and addreffed to perfons to whom they never were written counterfeited as from Bifhop Atterbury to him, which neither that Bishop nor he ever saw † ; and advertised even after that period when it was made felony to correspond with him.

I know not how it has been this Author's fate, whom both his fituation and his temper have all his life excluded from rivalling any man, in any pretenfion (except that of pleafing by poetry), to have been as much afperfed and written at, as any First Minifter of his time: pamphlets and news-papers have been full of him, nor was it there only that a private man, who never troubled either the world or common converfation with his opinions of Religion or Government, has been represented as a dangerous member of Society, a bigotted Papist, and an Enemy to the Establishment. The unwarrantable publication of his Letters hath at least done him this fervice, to fhew he has conftantly enjoyed the friendship of worthy men; and that if a catalogue were to be taken of his friends and his enemies, he needs not to blush at either. Many of them having been written on the most trying occurrences, and all in the opennefs of friendship, are a proof what were his real fentiments, as they flowed warm from the heart, and fresh from the occafion; without the leaft thought that ever the world fhould be witnefs to them. Had he fat down with a defign to draw his own picture, he

In Vol. iii. Letters from Mr. Pope to Mrs. Blount, &c. Vol. ii. of the fame, 8vo, p. 20. and at the end of the Edition of his Letters in 12mo, by the bookfellers of London and West. minfter; and of the laft Edition in 12mo, printed for T. Cooper, 1735.

could not have done it fo truly; for whoever fits for it (whether to himself or another) will inevitably find the features more composed, than his appear in these letters. But if an author's hand, like a painter's, be more diftinguishable in a flight sketch than in a finished picture, this very careleffnefs will make them the better. known from fuch counterfeits, as have been, and may be imputed to him, either through a mercenary or a malicious defign.

We hope it is needless to say, he is not accountable for several paffages in the furreptitious editions of those Letters, which are fuch as no man of common fenfe would have published himself. The errors of the prefs were almost innumerable, and could not but be extremely multiplied in fo many repeated editions, by the avarice and negligence of piratical printers, to not one of whom he ever gave the least title, or any other encouragement than that of not profecuting them.

For the Chafms in the correfpondence, we had not the means to supply them, the Author having destroyed too many Letters to preferve any Series. Nor would

he go about to amend them, except by the omiffion of fome paffages, improper, or at least impertinent, to be divulged to the Publick: or of fuch entire Letters, as were either not his, or not approved of by him.

He has been very sparing of thofe of his Friends, and thought it a refpect shown to their memory, to fuppress in particular such as were moft in his favour. As it is not to Vanity but to Friendship that he intends this Monument, he would fave his enemies the mortification of fhowing any further how well their Betters have thought of him and at the fame time fecure from their cenfure his living Friends, who (he promises them) fhall never be put to the blufh, this way at least, for their partiality to him.

૨,

But however this Collection may be received, we cannot but lament the Caufe, and the Neceffity of fuch a publication, and heartily with no honeft man may be reduced to the fame. To ftate the cafe fairly in the prefent fituation, A Bookfeller advertises his intention to publish your Letters he openly promises encouragement, or even pecuniary rewards, to those who will help him to any; and engages to infert whatever they fhall fend. Any scandal is fure of a reception, and any enemy who fends it fcreened from a difcovery. Any domestic or fervant, who can fnatch a letter from your pocket or cabinet, is encouraged to that vile practice. If the quantity falls fhort of a volume, any thing else shall be joined with it (more efpecially fcandal) which the collector can think for his Interest, all recommended under your Name: you have not only Theft to fear, but Forgery. Any Bookfeller, tho' confcious in what manner they were obtained, not caring what may be the confequence to your Fame or Quiet, will fell and difperfe them in town and country. The better your Reputation is, the more your name will caufe them to be demanded, and consequently the more you will be injured. The injury is of fuch a nature, as the Law (which does not punish for Intentions) cannot prevent; and when done, may punish, but not redrefs. You are therefore reduced, either to enter into a perfonal treaty with fuch a man (which tho' the readieft, is the meanest of all methods), or to take fuch other measures to fupprefs them, as are contrary to your inclination, or to publish them, as are contrary to your modefty. Otherwife your fame and your property suffer alike; you are at once exposed and plundered. As an Author, you are deprived of that power, which above all others conftitutes a good one, the power of rejecting, and the right of judging for yourself, what pieces it may be moft ufeful,

entertaining, or reputable to publish, at the time and in the manner you think beft. As a Man, you are deprived of the right even over your own sentiments, of the privilege of every human creature to divulge or conceal them; of the advantage of your fecond thoughts; and of all the benefit of your prudence, your candour, or your modefty. As a Member of Society, you are yet more injured; your private conduct, your domeftic concerns, your family fecrets, your paffions, your tenderneffes, your weakneffes, are exposed to the Mifconftruction or Refentment of fome, to the Cenfure or Impertinence of the whole world. The printing private letters in such a manner, is the worst fort of betraying Converfation, as it has evidently the most extenfive, and the most lafting, ill confequences. It is the highest offence against Society, as it renders the moft dear and intimate intercourse of friend with friend, and the most neceffary commerce of man with man, unfafe, and to be dreaded. To open Letters is esteemed the greatest breach of honour; even to look into them already opened or accidentally dropt, is held an ungenerous, if not an immoral act. What then can be thought of the procuring them merely by Fraud, and the printing them merely for Lucre? We cannot but conclude every honest man will wish, that, if the Laws have as yet provided no adequate remedy, one at least may be found, to prevent fo great and growing an evil.